Button scoly ID

[mikeymushrooms]

Hey all! I just got this nice button Scoly, does anyone know what kind it is ? I added some photos under different lighting

 

[tzabor10]

I have never seen defined names for Scoly. Yours looks nice though

 

[Jeremy_d]

Call it what you want, there are too many variations to name them all

 

[Mr_Knightley]

There are no variety names for different button scolies, each one is totally unique like with other meat corals. Any "names" you see are just made up by vendors as clickbait.

 

[Danyole]

Looks like a purple button scoly

 

[encrustingacro]

cf. Micromussa pacifica
Button scolys were IDed as Micromussa pacifica by the hobby's taxonomy nerds such as Jake Adams and Joe Rowlett once that species got described, but this identification is dubious. First of all, no specimens from Western Australia, the locality where button "scolys" are collected from, were sampled in the study that described Micromussa pacifica. Second of all, there are notable differences in color between M. pacifica and button scolys: M. pacifica are usually a deep red or green, often with white radiating accents on the outer coenosarc, while button scolys usually range from red to yellow, often with "weak vescicles" denoting primary septa. The West-Australian population of button scolys have yet to be studied and likely represents an undescribed species within Lobophylliidae, separate from M. pacifica. Until molecular/genetic analysis is done on button scolys, we cannot definitively ID them.

 

[mikeymushrooms]

cf. Micromussa pacifica
Button scolys were IDed as Micromussa pacifica by the hobby's taxonomy nerds such as Jake Adams and Joe Rowlett once that species got described, but this identification is dubious. First of all, no specimens from Western Australia, the locality where button "scolys" are collected from, were sampled in the study that described Micromussa pacifica. Second of all, there are notable differences in color between M. pacifica and button scolys: M. pacifica are usually a deep red or green, often with white radiating accents on the outer coenosarc, while button scolys usually range from red to yellow, often with "weak vescicles" denoting primary septa. The West-Australian population of button scolys have yet to be studied and likely represents an undescribed species within Lobophylliidae, separate from M. pacifica. Until molecular/genetic analysis is done on button scolys, we cannot definitively ID them.

Thanks for the info about them! Super informative so technically they are not true scolyomia?

 

[encrustingacro]

Thanks for the info about them! Super informative so technically they are not true scolyomia?

None of what we call "Scolys" in the hobby are actually Scolymia. True Scolymia are West-Atlantic endemics. What we call "Scolymia" in the hobby are multiple different species of solitary, donut-like Lobophylliids, most of which were formerly in the genus  Scolymia. Most of the "Scolys" in the hobby are Homophyllia australis, which are closely related to bowerbankis.